St. Charles – Geneva – South Elgin – Elgin

The Oldest Trick in the MLS Book

It’s no mystery that Realtors have a huge resource at their fingertips with the MLS database. Thousands of property listings are added and updated every day. Such a small fraction of the population (i.e. Realtors) have access to this remarkable resource. Like a glass door covering an internet search engine, you can see it, it is out there, but you just can’t get your hands on it.

However, a few seasoned investors cut to the chase with an unusual method. They ask to have searches run for only the oldest listings available in their chosen area. Price isn’t so much the key information such an investor wants, but rather, how long has it been listed. Now that the market is turning around, listing times have dropped fast, nearly back down to the typical 6 months’ time, but the occasional lonely listing is still sitting out there, sometimes over a year or more.

Using the data behind the MLS, this investor has searches sent to him that contain the old listings and the longest always wins. The longer a listing sits on the market, the better chance an investor has of submitting a low offer that will be accepted. This method, while unusual, hits the patience limit of the both the property owner, listing agent and bank, while freeing up the investor to wait and watch until the precise moment. Properties with lag time, that have been overlooked on the MLS, are exactly what this buyer is looking for.